一切經音義 27.6

27.6

Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra, Chapter 1: Introduction (In Sanskrit: Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra. Sat means 'wondrous' or 'correct.' Dharma means 'teaching' (fa). In the Western Regions, a white lotus is called puṇḍarīka. Sūtra means scripture. It should properly be called the 'Scripture of the White Lotus of the Sublime Dharma.' It emits the light of the white curl of hair and is drawn by a white ox. White is the foundation of all colors, and the One Vehicle is the basis of the two vehicles; therefore, the white lotus is used as a metaphor for the Sublime Dharma. Since the Sanskrit text does not have an additional word for 'white,' it simply says 'lotus.' The Dharma encompasses holding and standardizing; uniting all auspicious signs, it is called 'sublime' (miào). The Yupian says: "Miào means refined; it also means fine and beautiful in appearance." In ancient script, it is written with xuán as 玅. Dharma means rules and standards, or a model; it also means to uphold. Huā (flower) combines blooming and flourishing, gathering all beauties to manifest the lotus. For the character lián (蓮), the Yupian says: "Lián is the fruit of the fúqú (lotus)." For the character huā (花), older translations used 華; but it is not the case that 華 lacks the pronunciation of huā, though it is not adopted here).